Scarred Memories
by Jellyfish Pride
Summary: What if Thalia Grace and Nico Di Angelo had more than what was said in the Titan's Curse? When Thalia quits the Huntress's and arrives back at camp, those memories are literally thrown back at her. But there is something else in their way – monsters keep getting into camp somehow. Story of friendship, romance and drama. Thalia x Nico. Rated T just in case
1. Meeting Again

**Hello! This story is one of the many from my DeviantART account, if you're wondering. I hope you enjoy!**

**Also, while Thalia was in the Huntresses and didn't age, Nico did and is now the same age as Thalia.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson; all characters belong to Rick Riordan. Except for the gods…but yeah, you know what I mean.**

**Thalia**

A colourful butterfly flew across the clearing. Birds chirped and sang, cattle grazed and chewed at the long grass. Then…

_WHOOSH!_

As quick as lightning, something fast and long caught a dragonfly by its wing, the arrow lodging itself in a branch of a tree with the dead dragonfly hanging. Leaves fell and the animals fled in shock.

Thalia and the other Huntresses walked into the clearing, sweating and panting from the target practice they had started at four in the morning. It was noon now.

"Alright." Thalia announced, sitting down. "Let's have a break."

The rest of them joined her and started their separate conversations in groups of two or three.

Artemis was up on Olympus and had left Thalia in charge while she was gone. The goddess had told them there was some 'important business' she had to handle up on Olympus and that she would return as soon as she could. Unable to protest, they had to go by her orders.

"What do you think Artemis is doing?" One of them asked Thalia, who shrugged.

"Probably having some meetings about the last war or something like that." She guessed.

They all agreed, nodding or just saying simple statements like, "Yeah."

While they kept on talking, Thalia got up and walked around in the woods.

She was making some tough decisions at the moment – part of her wanted to quit the Huntresses, and the other part didn't.

She wanted to go back to camp and hang out with her friends. She didn't want to still be 15 when they were fragile and old.

But she also loved being the Lieutenant of Artemis, being a Huntress and all the other friends she had here.

_Camp, _She thought in confusion, _or the Huntresses?_

Thalia thought for a while and finally decided. She went back to the clearing to tell the others, just to get it over with.

"Guys!" She got their attention. She closed her eyes and took off her bow and quiver, throwing it on the ground. They all gasped.

"I can't do this." She told them, "I'm sorry."

Thalia ran out of the clearing and made her way to camp.

But she didn't know there was a huge surprise coming at her.

**Nico**

Nico took a deep breath then let it out, followed by panting. Versing Percy in the sword arena isn't the most fun thing to do - especially when the Son of Poseidon feels the need to impress his girlfriend, Annabeth, who was watching them.

He wiped the sweat off his forehead and threw his leather jacket on the floor, which he was getting too hot in.

His black T-Shirt was flattened against his olive skin, revealing the toned muscles he had.

Percy laughed at Nico's frustrated face and swirled his sword.

"We can stop you know," Percy told him.

"No way." Nico growled.

He at least wanted to beat him _just this once_.

"Ok..." Percy smirked, and then Nico lunged.

The green-eyed demigod dodged and sliced at his head, but Nico ducked and managed to punch him in the arm. With a perfect roundhouse kick, Percy got Nico square in the chest. He staggered back and tripped over, coughing and trying to get his breath back.

Percy laughed and put his sword to his opponent's neck.

"Fine." Nico groaned. "You win."

He held up a hand. "Help me up?"

Percy took his sword away and grabbed Nico's hand. With utter surprise, Nico pulled him down beside him, grabbed Percy's sword from him (somehow) and jumped back up, now pointing _his_ sword at Percy.

"Gotcha!" He laughed.

"Okay. Round two to Nico." Percy sighed, holding up his hand. "Pull me up?"

"No way." Nico snickered and walked away, hearing Annabeth and a different voice laugh at Percy.

He looked back and for a second, the girl standing next to the daughter of Athena looked nothing but familiar – blue eyes, spiky black hair. His eye's widened when he realised it was Thalia Grace. But she was supposed to be off with the Huntresses…unless something bad had happened. Nico vaguely remembered when they first met, how she helped him…

Nico shook his head and tried to get rid of the memory. Just like Bianca, she had left him alone without anyone to count on.

**Thalia**

Thalia was impressed at how Nico tricked Percy. He had changed a lot since before she joined the huntresses. He also showed the funniest thing she had seen in a long time.

She loved the Huntresses, but you can never get a laugh out of those serious girls.

Percy gaped at her. "Thalia?"

"In the flesh." The Zeus Child pronounced.

Percy hugged her then looked at her worriedly. "Are you alright?"

The daughter of Zeus nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Not to sound mean, and I'm glad you're here, but why…?" Annabeth trailed off.

Thalia sighed and turned away. "I quit the Huntresses."

"_What?_" Annabeth and Percy exclaimed in unison.

"You heard me." Thalia spun around with a hurt look on her face.

"Sorry..." Annabeth apologized. "But how come?"

"I-I just did, OK!" She stomped off to the Zeus cabin, where Chiron had told her she could stay.

**What had Thalia helped Nico with? Hmm? :D**

**Hope you liked it! Feel free to give any tips!**

**Review! (:**

**~ Jellyfish Pride**


	2. The Flashback

**Nico **

After seeing Thalia for the first time in five years, all of the memories he'd tried to forget had flooded back to him. He went to the climbing wall to hopefully clear his mind, but it only made it worse. Being singed by lava wasn't exactly the most helpful thing.

Once he reached the top, he sat there for a while, overlooking camp as he caught his breath.

He wiped the beads of sweat off his forehead and closed his eyes.

The sound of the lava dripping off the rocks and the smashing of the boulders together made it hard for Nico to think straight.

And right now, all he needed to do was clear his head and snap himself out of it.

He trudged down the climbing wall and slowly walked towards the archery fields, staring at the ground as his feet crunched the gravel beneath him.

He looked up and saw Thalia practising with Annabeth at the fields, so he turned around and went back to his cabin.

The room was dark and eerie inside. Most of the time Nico loved it, but sometimes he just got sick of the overall ghostly aura.

The curtains were shut so Nico could barely see a thing after being outside in the bright sunlight. He felt around for his bed and went to sit down.

But instead, he missed it by a couple of centimetres and groaned as his tailbone roughly hit the floor.

He couldn't be bothered getting up, and he was perfectly comfortable lying on the ground with a few pillows, so he put his head on his knees and took a deep breath.

Automatically, the time when they first met entered his memory, almost as if someone pressed the rewind button on his brain.

_**Flashback**_

_Nico sat bolt upright, panting and covered in sweat. _

_He pulled the sticky blankets off him and slipped on his shoes. _

_It was already 6:30am, and he might as well have started getting ready. _

_It was another nightmare he had woken up from – the same old thing. _

_Him and his sister Bianca playing on the ground, a pretty Italian lady on a couch and a familiar man sitting next to her. They were talking, and the lady looked like she was on the verge of tears. The man went upstairs after he'd kissed her forehead. There was a bright flash and Nico couldn't see the woman anymore. The man had run down and started to cry and roaring in anger. Nico somehow knew the woman was far from alive. _

_But who were they? _

_He couldn't remember anything else – they were just little bits of a huge puzzle he had yet to find the other pieces and figure the entire thing out._

* * *

_Three people had barged into the dance, all adolescents who had already started walking towards Nico and his sister. _

_Nico gripped Bianca's arm and nodded his head in their direction._

_Her brow was creased in confusion and worry._

_They started talking to them, but Nico zoned out and stared at one of the girls. _

_She had spiky black hair and electric blue eyes. She was beautiful, in the punk sort of way. _

_He was brought back to reality when the girl with blonde hair said, "You need to come with us immediately."_

_Bianca nodded and grabbed Nico's hand, tugging him along. _

_The rest was a blur, pretty much._

_There was this creepy monster-lion dude and he had gone over the edge of a cliff with the blonde-haired girl. Annabeth, the guy, Percy, had called her. _

_These people called 'the Hunters' had rescued them and they were currently setting up tents for them to stay in overnight. _

_Bianca had gone off somewhere, and Nico had somehow ended up standing next to Thalia. _

_He wasn't going to lie – his face flushed a little._

_But then Thalia moved off angrily and growled at Percy. _

_The son of Hades sat in the grass alone and shivered in the cold. _

_Bianca emerged from a tent and sat next to him._

"_W-where did you go?" Nico stammered. "You look different."_

"_Listen, Nico." She sighed. "I became a Huntress."_

"_What's that?"_

_After Bianca explained everything, Nico wasn't shivering just from the cold._

"_You're…leaving me?" He felt tears prick his eyes._

_Bianca had been with him his entire life. She was the only person he could rely on and trust. She was his anchor, and now she was leaving._

"_Nico…" She reached out to touch his arm, but he shoved her off and felt a tear roll down his cheek._

"_Don't touch me." He sobbed. "I should've known you'd leave me like everyone else."_

_He got up and ran, to somewhere he didn't know, until he collapsed behind a tree and cried. And cried. _

_He felt sorry for himself, and you couldn't blame him._

"_Nico?" _

"_G-g-go away." He choked out, thinking it was Bianca._

_Thalia stepped in front of him and sat down next to the 10-year-old, wrapping her arm around his shoulders._

_Nico cried into her hair. "S-she left me…"_

"_Shh…its ok." She whispered. "She'll still be here for you."_

"_No she won't. I'll be at camp while she's off with the H-hunters."_

"_She'll visit and Iris-message." _

"_It won't be the same."_

"_At camp, we're all a family." Thalia said, rubbing his back. "You'll meet new people and become close. They will take you in – you're just like us."_

"_Who will?"_

_She was quiet for a split second, and then spoke up. "Me. I'll be here for you whenever you need. I promise."_

"_Promise?"_

"_Yes, Nico, I swear I wont leave you."_

_**End of Flashback**_

But she had left him, just like Bianca.

Nico didn't know whom to trust anymore, and even though he was trying, he couldn't bring himself to forgive her and forget.

**Poor Nico ): So this chapter was basically explaining what happened with Thalia and Nico…sorry if its cheesy. I tried my hardest not to make it, but I didn't know what else to write…**

**Reviewww I love your reviews! :D Thanks!**


	3. The Revenge of the Mad Dog

**I'M SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN AGEESS D: I've been really busy, and I have only squeezed in the time to right this between periods at school…anyway lets continue on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO :( Sadly**

**Nico**

Nico sat bolt upright, the scream ringing through his ears. He hadn't realised he had fallen asleep until all of the commotion outside started.

He picked himself up, grabbed his sword and ran outside, the feeling of dread in his chest.

It was completely bad luck - if he hadn't been a second earlier - that as soon as he stepped out of his cabin, a knife was thrown directly at his chest.

That was what Camp Half-Blood had prepared him for, though. He dodged, panting, and ran over to Percy who was near the lake. They exchanged looks, Percy completely understanding what Nico asking without saying it.

_What monster was it this time?_

"_Dracaenae_." The son of Poseidon replied, his face grim as he looked towards the forest.

Nico followed his gaze and his heart dropped.

It wasn't just the normal dozen of the monsters – instead it might as well have been a whole army.

Someone grabbed Nico from behind and he jumped.

It was just Clarisse.

"Come on, Death Boy!" She snarled. "Don't just sit there and watch, Kelp Breath!"

She shoved them both forward, but they balanced themselves upright and followed her to the _dracaenae_.

* * *

**Thalia (A/N This starts off before the attack, but then it continues)**

"So, how has camp been?" Thalia aimed her arrow at the target.

Annabeth's face hardened. "Not well."

"Why?" Thalia felt anger build up inside of her. "Is it Percy?"

"No, no! Of course not." She replied quickly. "Remember what we told you about the Labyrinth? How the monsters kept on getting in underground, past the borders?"

"Yeah?"

"It's happening again."

"I thought the Labyrinth collapsed when Daedalus...you know." Thalia chose her words carefully, trying not to upset Annabeth.

"It did." She replied, her brow furrowing a bit. "I meant how the monsters keep getting in past the border."

The daughter of Zeus was silent. "But how-"

A deafening battle cry interrupted her.

Everyone stopped in their tracks and turned to the forest. A bunch of _dracanae_ were marching out, shields locked and spears at the ready. The conch horn blew to signal the camp, but most of the campers were already aware. The monsters were flooding out, wave after wave, so many that Thalia lost count.

Annabeth aimed her arrow and it flew into one of the _dracaena_ that was about to skewer an adolescent from the Hermes cabin. With a wail, it disintegrated and the girl scrambled away quickly while she held on tight to her knife.

The monsters marched towards the cabins. The Poseidon roof caught on fire, but was extinguished as soon as it started by an angry-looking Percy. The entire Aphrodite cabin exploded and all Thalia could hear were the screams of the Aphrodite girls.

"NO, MY MAKE-UP!"

"MY HAIR STRAIGHTENER WAS IN THERE!"

"MY LUCKY BRA!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Will Solace notch half a dozen arrows into his bow. His cabin mates followed his idea. Thalia could hear his orders from the other side of the camp.

"Three, two, one…_fire_!"

The arrows zipped through the air and each one caught a _dracaena_, but it wasn't enough. Unless a miracle happened, it would take much more than a couple dozen arrows to get rid of them.

Thalia picked out a random monster and the sky rumbled. Lightning shot down and the whole row exploded.

Chiron was shooting down monsters like nobody's business, Nico was summoning undead warriors to engage the dracaenae, Apollo's cabin kept shooting, Percy was snatching up warriors with a hand made of water and drowning them, Aphrodite's cabin were angrily stabbing them but it was a bit pointless since they stopped whenever one of their nails broke.

Annabeth and Thalia exchanged glances as they drew their weapons. "Ready?"

"A half-blood _always_ has to be ready."

The two of them charged into the battle, but it wasn't anything new when you're a demigod.

**Nico**

The son of Hades looked for the closest place that wasn't swarmed with the monsters.

As one of the children of Demeter cantered out on a Pegasus, he noticed how empty and dark the Stables looked.

Perfect.

He sprinted past the horse and disappeared in the shadows, reappearing in the forest behind the _dracaenae_.

Shadow travelling really came in handy from time to time.

Nico crouched behind a tree and looked from left to right. There seemed to be a weaker spot near the middle to the left, and -

He froze and turned around, only to almost be flattened into a pancake by an ear-deafening roar.

**Thalia**

After slicing a monster in half, Thalia collapsed behind the Poseidon cabin to catch her breath.

They seemed to be unlimited, as soon as you thought there weren't many left, more came out of the forest. She wiped her knife blade on her shirt.

"Thalia!" A voice whispered in her ear.

She jumped. "Percy, give me a freaking heart attack why don't you?"

"Sorry. Have you seen Nico?"

"Last time I checked he was running into the forest."

Percy cursed under his breath. "Count on Nico to do the dangerous stuff."

"What do you mean?"

"We need to go help him now." He stood up and beckoned for her to do so as well. "Like _right now_."

**Nico**

"H-hey, Cerberus." Nico tried to convince the monster not to eat him. "Remember me? It's Nico."

The three-headed dog just snarled.

"How'd you get out, boy?" He reached out to pat the middle head, but it snapped at him, almost taking his fingers off.

Nico's eyes widened. "Whoa, okay. You aren't in a great mood today."

Cerberus lunged at him, but Nico dodged.

"Then again, you never are."

**Thalia**

"What was he thinking, trying to be the hero against thousands of monsters anyway?" Thalia hissed as they walked along the bottom of the creek in an air bubble.

"He's Nico, its not anything different." Percy snorted.

Along the way, Annabeth had joined them, but she seemed to be deep in thought. "That must be his Fatal Flaw," Annabeth nodded. "He's too proud and independent."

The surfaced the creek and quickly ran into the forest, only to be met by a loud roar.

Annabeth paled. "Please don't tell me that's what I think it is."

But there it was again, but this time multiplied.

"How did that stupid dog get out of the Underworld?" They sprinted into the forest and followed the screeches and barks of the three-headed dog.

**Nico**

"Whoa, whoa!" He jumped back as a large branch cracked and almost landed on top of him.

Nico faced the dog. "Nice doggy..."

"Nico!"

Instinctively, he looked to see who had called him, and a split second was all Cerberus needed.

He swung his left head and head-butted Nico, who went flying into a tree. A naiad sprouted out and tried helping him up, but when she saw the dog she yelped and quickly jumped back inside her oak tree.

His ribs ached and he gasped for air. Before he blacked out, he saw Thalia leaning over him.

**Thalia**

She knew it was a mistake to call out his name from the second she did it. And as soon as she saw Nico flying into that tree, she had to stuff her hand in her pocket to stop her from slapping herself.

They ducked behind a bush and Percy whispered instructions. "Annabeth, you go left and I'll go right. We'll cause a distraction while Thalia goes and helps Nico."

"Wait, I want to fight! H ow come I have to help Nico?"

"Because you're the one that called out his name, doofus."

"Touché…"

"Ready…go!" Percy sprinted off to the left.

"Percy! You're supposed to go right!" Annabeth called.

"Whoops, I knew that!" He quickly changed direction and Annabeth ran out as well. Thalia waited until Percy slashed at the dog's legs so it was pre-occupied when she ran around the outskirts of the clearing they were in.

A knife lodged into the tree behind her, one that she barely dodged. "Watch it, Annabeth!" She called out in frustration.

By now, Thalia was sprinting, wanting to get to Nico as soon as possible.

"Thals, behind you!" Annabeth screamed.

The daughter of Zeus spun around just in time. She hit the floor and one of the heads smashed through the tree she was standing in front of. She rolled to the left and came up on her knees, tapping her wrist. Aegus sprung into the shield, the Medusa head as frightening as ever.

The dog took a step back and stood its ground, but it still looked angry.

She slowly got to her feet, seeing Percy running behind the dog with Annabeth beside him. They jumped at the same time on the dogs back, stabbing their swords into the back of its middle head, then the left and the right after.

With a long howl, the dog slumped down and it slowly disintegrated to ashes.

Thalia dropped her sword and sprinted as fast as she could to Nico. Once she reached him, she collapsed at his bleeding side. She could already tell his ribs were broken.

His eyes fluttered, and she felt his forehead. He was burning up.

"Don't worry." She told him before he blacked out. "You're safe now."

**Revieww please (: Hope you liked it! Sorry if its cheesy…**

**Jellyfish Pride **


	4. Oh-My-God-What-The-Hell dreams

**Ok...you can kill me. Cyberly-kill that is, though. teehee :D I haven't updated in ages...I've been told off a lot by my friends especially UNICORNBLASTPOP hahah. Anyways, I don't own anthing. So yeah. On with dah story.**

**Thalia**

"W-we need to get him back to camp," Thalia stammered, standing up and drawing her sword. "Chiron can heal him, or one of the Apollo kids."

"Thalia, we can't." Annabeth grabbed her wrist. "Not while the dracanae are out there. If we go back, we'll just put him in more danger."

"Then what do we do?" Thalia sat down again, feeling Nico's forehead.

"As much as I hate to say this, we do nothing." Annabeth replied.

"We can't just do _nothing_," Percy grimaced. "We can Iris Message Will and get him to come here, and-"

"Will won't know where we are, Percy!" Annabeth sighed. "And how will he get here without getting swarmed by monsters?"

The three of them knelt down glumly beside the unconscious son of Hades, realising she was right. "Well, we have to do something." Percy finally said. "I'm a half-blood, I'm not too great at doing nothing."

Annabeth nodded. "I think we need to go further into the woods, back towards the beach. You can heal Nico with water, can't you Percy?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but I can try."

Thalia stood up and pulled the dead-weight Nico onto his feet. He groaned a little and Percy put Nico's arm around his shoulders, and Thalia did the same thing to his other side. Annabeth led them through the forest, but then she stopped abruptly. Percy walked straight into her with an 'oof'.

"Why'd you stop?" Thalia asked, blowing her hair out of her face. Annabeth pointed ahead, her mouth gaping open.

"What," Percy stammered. "On earth is that…"

**Nico**

Out of all the dreams Nico has had, this one seemed to be the strangest, weirdest and most 'oh-my-god-what-the-hell'-est. In the dream, Nico was in the forest right under the tree where he blacked out, except he was the only one there.

Thalia, Percy, Annabeth and Cerberus were nowhere in sight. He could still hear the screams, clashes of sword-on-sword and battle cries of the fight, but his vision was blurry and he couldn't make out much except where he was. A white light was shining brightly in the centre of the clearing, much like a portal. His feet moved towards it, and then he felt the worst pain in the whole world - like his limbs were being burned off, his skin being peeled away slowly and his bones were being smashed with a hammer. The sounds and trees faded until he could only see the white light.

Suddenly, he was standing on the beach at Long Island Sound. Nico blinked a couple of times and the pain subsided besides a slight headache. He was standing right in front of the pier and he made out a figure sitting at the end, dangling their feet in the water.

"Hello?" Nico called out, walking towards the figure. "Who is it?"

Once he was a metre away from the person, he/she turned around. "'Sup, Corpse Breath."

He was certain it was a 'she', and then the person planted a smack-bang kiss on Nico's lips. Part of him liked it, but he forced himself to pull away.

The person frowned. Yes, he could see her face now. He stumbled backwards, gasping. "What's wrong?" She asked.

It was…

The dream faded, and Nico woke up face to face to Percy. Nico yelled out and the son of Poseidon covered his mouth with his hand. "Shh." He hissed.

Someone shifted beside him, and his eyes widened, wanting to get away from all the weirdness of the dream.

The one who had kissed him…it was Thalia Grace.

**What do you think they saw? o-O And no, it was not a field of dancing butterfly unicorns UNICORNBLASTPOP. ahah. Tell me what you think they saw and the most creative/closest answer will get a shout-out in the next chapter :) **


	5. Painting's of the Past and Future

**HIHI! I've updated quicker than usual * applauds self * AT THE START, IT MAY BE A BIT DISAPPOINTING OF THE CLIFFHANGER, BUT READ TILL THE VERY END! :D **

**I don't own PJO (sadly) so yeah. **

** Thalia**

"This wasn't here before." The daughter of Zeus spoke. "This is…is_ impossible_."

They were standing on the banks of a glistening lake, the sunlight sparkling on the water making it almost impossible to look at without getting blind. On the other side were a mountain and a stone ancient entrance at the base.

"Atreus." Annabeth told them. "The house of Atreus."

"What is it doing here?" Nico frowned.

"Let's find out." Percy took off his cargo boots and armour and the others did the same - it would definitely weigh them down. The son of Poseidon scrunched up his nose and announced, "There is a sudden drop in deepness in the middle which I'm not sure about. It seems…unnatural. Just be careful and I'll tell you when we reach it and we'll go around."

Thalia took off her socks and plunged into the water first. It was cool and surprisingly clean and refreshing. Percy followed her and then Annabeth with Nico trailing after, the daughter of Athena helping the Hades child. Thalia turned over on her back and sighed happily. It was quite a long way to the other side, might as well reinvigorate and enjoy it while she could. She suddenly felt a rough tug on her ankle and yelped, and then a laughing Percy surfaced beside her.

"God dammit, don't do that!" Thalia yelled, punching him. She felt another tug, much harder than the first that she almost went under. "Seriously, Percy. Stop it."

Another tug. Percy frowned, holding up his hands as if she was pointing a gun at him and replied, "I'm not doing anything anymore."

"Then-" She started, but then a final tug pulled her under. She tried clawing up to the surface but couldn't get a hold of anything. She screamed under water, seeing a large red eye behind her and grabbed hold of her knife in her belt, ferociously stabbing at whatever was holding her. Thalia was running out of breath and its grip tightened even more around her legs.

Something grabbed her hand and she dizzily looked up at the son of Poseidon, who was trying to pull her up so hard her hand felt like it was going to get yanked off. He grabbed Riptide and slashed at the tentacle and it loosened, which was just enough for Thalia to get free. They shot through the water to the surface as quick as lightning. Her head surfaced and she tried to catch her breath as quickly as she could. Annabeth and Nico pulled her out onto the bank.

"What the Hades was that?" Nico shouted.

"I don't know." Percy replied. "I couldn't see anything apart from a red eye, which was the size of _me_."

"Let's get inside before it comes back." Annabeth said, running for the entrance with the three trailing behind her. When they entered, it seemed like someone had thrown their expectations in the bin.

"This is it?" Thalia panted. "I almost got drowned by a whatever-it-was for _nothing_?"

The dome roof was black in some parts like something had been burnt and ashes and sand were scattered all over the floor, but other than that, nothing seemed exciting.

"I can't believe this." Nico shouted. "Now what do we do-"

Then the stone floor fell out from beneath him and Annabeth screamed out his name, but only to get no answer back.

**Nico**

The wind was knocked out of him as he landed on his back. _Why do all the bad things happen to me?_ He wondered. The others were calling out to him, but when he talked it came out in a whisper since he couldn't breathe properly. Nico sat up and looked around, only to be welcomed by darkness. Pain shot up his shoulder and he groaned loudly. Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you alright, Nico?"

"I'm alive, but I think I did something to my shoulder." He croaked, looking up at the far away dot of light above him with a few silhouettes of heads in the way.

"What's down there?" Thalia asked.

"I don't know, I can't see a thing." He called.

"Someone should go down." Thalia said.

"I will." Percy volunteered.

"Wait!" Nico yelled. "It's a much longer way down than you think. Just go get help. Two people down here are just useless."

"Nico, you're hurt." Thalia shouted. "I don't want to go get help and come back to find you've been eaten by some monster. At least one of us can save your injured ass."

"But-" Then the daughter of Zeus jumped down and landed straight on top of Nico, the air leaving his lungs for a second time. "OW!" He yelped in pain.

"Wow, it is a longer way down than it looks." Thalia said shakily, climbing off of the child of Hades, who was surprised she jumped down in the first place since she had a fear of heights. "Percy, Annabeth. Go get something that can help – preferably a ladder – or find someone, but hurry."

The couple went off, leaving Nico and Thalia in an awkward silence. If it wasn't pitch black, Nico would've been embarrassed at how red his face was.

"Ouch." Thalia gasped suddenly.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Let's just say I found a very, _very_ pointy stick." She replied and Nico smiled slightly. "Wait, if there are sticks down here, we should be able to make a fire." He suggested, feeling the ground for any more of them. "Oh, found something!"

"That's my foot, you moron." Thalia sighed.

"Oh. Sorry." His face turned a darker shade of red, until he finally found a few more. He took the few Thalia had and placed them in a pile. "Ok, that should be enough."

"Question is, how are we going to start it?" Thalia stated. "I'm not sure about you, but I'm not Bear Grylls."

"If we clash metal against metal, we'll get sparks, right?" Nico replied, pulling out his sword. "Get your knife out."

He saw the faint glow of silver from his sword and bronze for her knife, which was reassuring that they wouldn't accidently take each other's heads' off.

"Go as hard as you can." Nico told her. "3, 2, 1…"

_CLASH!_

Sparks flew and very faintly, a fire started. Nico whooped as he saw Thalia's smiling face in the firelight. He grabbed a large stick and put the end in the fire so it caught, then stood up painfully and walked around.

The room was pretty small and cramped and shaped like a circle, almost as if it was a well. He ran his hand along the wall and felt bumps and lumps on it, like something was carved out of it.

"Nico!" Thalia suddenly gasped, "Look at the walls."

He turned around and faced the stone, his breath leaving him. All the way around the chasm were very detailed paintings of four people. One was people fighting Cerberus, another was a person being dragged under water by a giant squid, then someone falling through a stone floor and next were two people running from a flying monster. "Kraken." Thalia said, pointing to the water picture, then the one Nico was staring at. " And that's Kampê."

"Wait." His eyes widened. "All of this…it seems familiar."

Nico turned around and glanced at Thalia, whose face had grown deathly pale. "These paintings are of us."

**:OO I'm not sure if it's a bad cliff hanger or not…meh. In the last chapter, I asked you guys to tell me what you think the surprise was, and the closest/most creative answer would get a shout out in the next chapter and it's the next chapter, so EWW I JUST SQUISHED A BUG WITH MY FINGER AND NOW ITS DEAD AND ON MY FINGEERRRR D: EWIES. Sorry, bit out of the blue. Anyway, shout out to Apeni, who said it could be someone dead like Daedalus/Bianca/Luke/etc. I found it actually pretty cool since I hadn't even thought of it, so…yeah :) **

**Later 'gaters! (Ohmygod, I can't believe I just said that. Just no, Jellyfish Pride, no.)**

** - JELLYFISH PRIDEE (Ohmygod, why did you add the double 'e' and write your name in caps lock. You are so stupid today, Jellyfish Pride. Stop being gay.) **

**I am amazing and talk to myself. (Ohmygod, why did you call yourself amazing. Stop being so vain...gosh, Jellyfish Pride.)**

**Ok, I am going to say bye now. Sorry you had to go through my strange and un-called for argument with myself.**

**BYEE! (Ohmygod...)**


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